Business as Usual
by TheBrightestNight
Summary: Alt. click-bait title: Sibling angst is my JAM bro-ham! Sir Reginald continues to be a terrible parent.


**They're young teens in this fic. So picture their young-selves.**

* * *

"Ben! Dude, did you see that awesome curve Diego put into his knife for that one guy?" Klaus exclaimed, going up to Ben, completely missing the fact that Ben looked incredibly distressed and was looking at his hands like something was wrong with them, turning them over and over again. Ben was visibly shaking. But Klaus was still high from the crime-fighting they'd just done and stopping the bad guys.

Klaus continued to chatter excitedly to Ben, who was still so disturbed he couldn't talk. Couldn't get his voice to work, to tell his brother to quiet down, _please_; to tell his brother—

They walked back to where there siblings were gathered around something. Klaus still oblivious to what was going on and the mood of room, and Ben following only because he didn't know what else to do.

When Klaus realized that none of his siblings were listening to him, he squeezed himself between Diego and Allison, throwing his arms across their shoulders and looking back and forth between them.

"What's wrong, guys?" he asked, trying to keep his voice light, not even noticing they'd taken their masks off. "What's with all the sad faces? We stopped the bad guys…" Klaus trailed off when he finally looked down at what the rest of siblings were.

It was Ben.

Klaus's arms dropped from his siblings' shoulders and his face paled. He looked behind him at Ben, who was looking back at Klaus, just as stricken. Ben's hands were still aloft, but he was looking straight at Klaus.

Klaus looked back at Ben lying on the floor. Then Ben standing behind him. And again and again and again until tears blurred his vision.

Klaus ripped off his mask to wipe the tears from his eyes and turned back to the Ben lying on the floor, dropping to his knees. He barely registered Luther, who was kneeling next to the Ben lying on the floor opposite from Klaus.

"No, Ben! Come on! Ben!" Klaus shouted, his hands fluttering uselessly over the Ben lying on the floor. He wanted to save him! Klaus wanted to save his brother! But their father had only taught them how to stop bad guys and fight crime, not how to save people.

Klaus slammed his fists on the floor, letting out a frustrated shout. Then he was doing what he thought was CPR on the Ben lying on the floor. _He needed to do something!_

"It's too late! Get away from him!" It was Luther, and Klaus had never heard Luther yell like that before. It startled Klaus enough for him to stop what he was doing and look up at his other brother. Luther's face was red, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I have to do something!" Klaus shouted back, his hands going back to Ben's chest.

"No! Get away! Don't touch him!" Luther shoved Klaus, who went flying, knocking over Diego and Allison behind him before landing a few feet away from his siblings. Klaus's head smacked the floor, leaving him dazed and seeing stars for a few moments.

"Klaus!" his siblings cried.

"Klaus!" It was Luther again. "Klaus! I'm sorry! I didn't mean—! Are you okay? I'm sorry."

As Klaus sat up, Luther fell to his knees. Luther's hands grabbed Klaus's shoulders a little painfully before Luther's head fell to Klaus's chest and he began to sob.

"I'm sorry," Luther said again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Over and over again, through gut-wrenching sobs, Luther apologized.

The rest of their siblings were gathered around them now, holding each other, crying as well.

Except for Ben.

The Ben who was standing was now looking at the Ben who was lying on the floor. The Ben who was standing had his arms at his sides now, one hand holding his mask.

Klaus dropped his gaze to Luther, who was still quietly apologizing. Then his eyes strayed up to his siblings. And he got a horrible feeling Luther wasn't just apologizing for hurting Klaus.

* * *

Sir Reginald cleared his throat from the doorway to Luther's bedroom. Grace, who'd been sitting next to Luther on the edge of his bed looked up. Luther didn't.

Grace nodded once at Sir Reginald before looking back at Luther, gently rubbing his back once more before standing, straightening the skirt of her dress, and walking out of Luther's room, past Sir Reginald. But she stopped just outside the threshold and watched with what a human would interpret as sadness as Sir Reginald stepped inside Luther's bedroom and slowly closed the door.

"Chin up, Number One," Sir Reginald said in a strict tone. "Stop crying. You've done enough of that. What you did today was unacceptable."

He was, of course, talking about what Luther had done once the press had been given permission to interview The Umbrella Academy. Although Sir Reginald kept tabs on what happened during The Umbrella Academy's fight, he had not seen what happened inside the building. When he was sure the fight was over, but The Umbrella Academy had not come out, he knew something was wrong.

So, he went in, telling the press to hold for a moment. They listened, but when Sir Reginald returned alone, their journalistic instincts kicked in and they surrounded him. He could barely answer their questions; they were all talking at once. And when one of the sneakier reporters slipped away from the pack and spotted a body lying on the floor, all Hell broke loose.

Sir Reginald could do nothing when they flooded into the building. It was a miracle the heroes had enough of a mind to quickly slip their masks back on before any of the cameras caught them without them.

When Luther spotted the reporters, he nearly lost it. He screamed and cried, ran out them to keep them away from Ben. The rest of his siblings shielded their brother from the cameras and photographers. Before Sir Reginald could stop him, Luther then read the reporters the riot act, telling them had common decency had completely gone down the drain.

_Ben was a child._

Needless to say, Sir Reginald was not pleased.

"You're lucky the press doesn't know your true identities." Sir Reginald paused. Then, "There is a reason you are Number One," Sir Reginald continued, staring down at Luther, who had raised his head and wiped away his tears. "You're The Umbrella Academy's leader. Do you know what this means?"

Luther sniffled. "I set a precedence," he said in a hoarse voice, sniffling again.

"And what does _that_ mean?"

"I have to act how the rest of The Umbrella Academy should act. I have to be a role model. I'm the face of The Academy."

Luther waited for a response from Sir Reginald, but when none came he looked away biting his tongue so hard he could taste blood. After a moment of keeping his tears at bay, he looked back at Sir Reginald and continued.

"That means I'm not allowed to break down or get angry. Especially at the press." Luther waited again but Sir Reginald stared down at him indifferently.

Luther's head was still swimming from everything that happened. The place behind his eyes throbbed painfully and he could feel the tears in his eyes burning, the lump in his throat swelling to the point of pain. Luther shook his head.

Sir Reginald's eyebrows furrowed and his lips pulled down. He grunted in disappointment. "That also means that you must carry the rest of The Academy through what happened today. You cannot be sad because that communicates to the rest of them that _they_ cannot be sad. You must _all_ pull through this and you will the first to do so. Do you understand? It is important, Number One."

Not be sad? How could he say that?

More tears flooded Luther's eyes and he quickly tried to wipe them away, not wanting to be reprimanded by Sir Reginald again.

"But I—" Luther began, looking back up at his father.

"No," Sir Reginald interrupted. "It does not matter how it happened. Work through your guilt and your grief, but do not let the others see you this way. Do you understand, Number One?"

After a moment of listening to his heart beat in his chest, Luther nodded.

"Very good. Now, I can tide the press over. You are young, and the death of someone close to you can affect anyone. They will understand that narrative. _However_, I will expect no more outbursts from you. We cannot have the public turning against us. It is important that they trust The Umbrella Academy."

_Someone close? Narrative?_

Not noticing or uncaring to Luther's emotional state, Sir Reginald turned to leave. He was halfway down the hall Luther stood from his bed and yelled, "Ben was my brother! And his death isn't a narrative, it's a tragedy!"

Sir Reginald spun on his heel, this time his eyebrows were furrowed in anger.

"_Number One_, you do not talk back to me! What did I just say about these outbursts?"

Luther finally let the tears flow freely. "Did you even care about him at all?" he screamed, his hands balling up into fists.

Sir Reginald paused and shifted his posture. The rest of the doors in the hallway were closed, but he knew the others were listening. "Of course I cared about Number Six. But I am being an _example_." He paused to let that sink in. "You are not just the common wealth! You are the elite Umbrella Academy. You must continue to fight when the call comes."

Without another word, Sir Reginald turned heel once again and continued down the hall to his study.

Luther watched him go, angry and upset, but there was nothing left to say. It was clear Sir Reginald had closed the subject, and Luther knew if he kept pushing, he'd be punished. That was the _last_ thing he wanted. Sir Reginald was already disappointed in him for today, and Luther hated himself knowing that that felt worse than his guilt over what had happened with Ben.

Still…

"His name is _Ben_," Luther said through his teeth, under his breath, still glaring at the spot Sir Reginald had been moments before.

* * *

**I cried writing this.**

**Also, from the department of did you know or did you care: I actually planned on some reconciliation between Luther and ghost Ben (using Klaus either as the "telephone" or his power to manifest Ben), but I liked this ending better.**

**Gave you fluff, now have some angst! (If you think it's a pattern, it's not. It's more like fluff before the angst storm.)**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Comments are much appreciated! ^_^**

**Thank you for reading,  
****TheBrightestNight**


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